A police car in the rear view: Crown Vics now grace Ohio museums

Today from the Ohio Newsroom, an iconic cop car. Support comes from Ohio Casa. Ohio Casa's mission is to ensure children experiencing abuse and neglect have a caring trained adult in their corner. Information about CASA volunteer work is at Ohio C-A.org. Support comes from the James at Ohio State. Cancer. For some, it's one of life's fiercest foes, but not at the James. where a team of nearly 300 specialists and over 1,500 researchers are working together to create a cancer-free world. Today from the Ohio Newsroom takes here around the state, connecting you with news and neighbors from all over Ohio. I'm Claire Roth. One vehicle has been associated with law enforcement in the U.S. for much of this past century, the Crown Vic. Very few departments still have Ford Crown Victoria Police interceptors on active duty. Now, in Cincinnati and Cleveland, they're literally museum pieces. Ohio Newsroom member station WVXU's Bill Reinhart reports. At the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum, one of the newest exhibits is a white 2010 Ford Crown Victoria with the word police in reflective blue and in all caps spanning all four doors. Museum director Bill Buky says this particular cruiser, license plate 10312, belonged to the Cincinnati Police Department and was in service until recently. Buky says the officer who drove it recognized it was the last of its kind in the department's fleet. And he was talking with someone here at the museum. And we mentioned that it would be great if we had it. Well, this 2024, I sent a letter to the chief requesting that we get this. Crown Vic when it goes out of service. And Buky got his wish. Instead of selling the vehicle when they retired it this year, the police department donated it. It's not the first police cruiser turned artifact in the state. The Cleveland Police Museum has two in its collection, one from the Ohio State Highway Patrol and another from Cleveland Heights, which is displayed in honor of two officers who died in the line of duty. The modern Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor was introduced in 1992. At 17 feet long with four doors, it had room for officers, equipment, and passengers. The Crown Vic was durable and it was affordable. It could also go very fast. If you were on a run that required two officers, you got there first and maybe you needed somebody to kind of like step up the response a little bit. You knew that vehicle was coming because of that engine sound. And that Crown Victoria sound alone was always like a almost a sigh of relief. That's Police Corporal Ben Moore. His department in Hamilton County's Green Township still has a Crown Vic and use it as a reserve canine unit. It's already proven to be a great decision.

We were able to help out the city of Chevy. Their police canine vehicle is getting some repairs done, and then they borrowed hours for their dog. We are putting this thing to use in every which way and just till it absolutely goes. Moore says he's a big fan of the Crown Vic and its durability. I mean, 24-7 around the clock. And you could beat them up, if you will. And they just didn't stop. And he's not the only fan. A friend of his and another department love the car just as much, if not more. He bought his old police cruiser or one of the old Crown Vicks at a police auction once it went. to have it because he was that obsessed with it. Ford stopped making the model in 2011, and these days there aren't a ton of departments still using them across Ohio. Jacob Howell of Wainsfield runs a Facebook group called Ohio Law Enforcement Pictures, recording his visits to different departments. Howell estimates about two dozen agencies still use Crown VIX. Many of those are in small communities. Besides its iconoclass status, Museum Director Bill Buky says the Crown Vic makes for a good museum piece because it represents a leap forward in law enforcement because the cars were purpose built for police departments. Before that, we get cars right off the assembly line. They're family cars. They're not run 24 hours a day. They break down faster. Once we started getting police package. made the difference. The cruiser at the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum is in pretty good shape. It has a new paint job and the flashing lights are hooked up. When the museum reopens in a new home, Buky says they want to have it on display along other historic cop cars in the collection. For the Ohio Newsroom, I'm Bill Reinhart in Cincinnati. That's all today from the Ohio Newsroom. We'll talk with you tomorrow.